BY BONNIE ROSENSTOCK | What do HVAC — heating, ventilation and air-cooling — and hoarding have in common? Both, it seems, are works in progress at Mutual Redevelopment Houses, Inc. (better known as Penn South).
As Penn South gears up to replace all plumbing lines associated with an HVAC system (work is slated to commence in February 2011), they must also work with uncooperative cooperators who have hoarding issues.
Penn South, which runs from 23rd to 29th Sts. btw. Eighth and Ninth Aves., has to replace the entire HVAC system in all 15 buildings. This involves getting into every room in every one of the 2,820 apartment units in the complex and breaking open a hole in the wall in order to get to the plumbing lines that need to be replaced. If there is excessive clutter and disorder, it is impossible to get to those lines.
“We have to absolutely do it,” stressed Penn South general manager Brendan Keany. “All of these lines are a common element of the building that runs from the ground floor to the 24th floor, so we can’t skip them.”
In addition, hoarding can severely limit living space and increase risk of injury, infestation, disease and fire. “We have to be concerned about their neighbors,” stated Keany.
“We have been aware for a number of years that hoarding is a form of illness,” said Naomi Goldstein, education and communications director, in an email. “In fact, we wrote an article about this phenomenon in our winter 2008 Penn South Community Newsletter. Because of the necessity of having apartments clear of clutter to do the work associated with the HVAC project, however, we have had to focus on this issue more in the last year or so.”
Clinicians disagree over whether compulsive hoarding is a separate dysfunction or part of a larger obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hoarding characteristics include amassing a large number of items that have little or no real value; living areas which are so cluttered that they cannot be used; significant impairment of functioning due to hoarding; reluctance to return borrowed items and sometimes theft of items; and the belief that these possessions are valuable when they are not, or the contrary, the knowledge they are totally useless, but they cannot discard them.
The most famous case of hoarding was that of the two Collyer brothers. In 1947, they were discovered, deceased, in their Harlem apartment with over 130 tons of waste and garbage.
Three cable reality shows are currently serving up this disorder du jour for entertainment purposes. For a light snack, the Style Network’s “Clean House” works the yard sale angle. Possessions are sold off, the hoarder goes off to a nice hotel to see how the unencumbered live, a team redesigns the home, and voilá the person is cured. In A&E’s “Hoarders,” doctors provide analysis while friends and others work two whole days to undo years of collecting. TLC’s “Hoarding: Buried Alive” is considered the most serious — expert therapists and organizers work with extreme hoarders to explore the psychology behind their compulsion.
In October 2009, Penn South held two meetings for all cooperators, or shareholders, where the board and general manager discussed in detail what the HVAC project involved. At that time, the issue of hoarding was brought up. On April 30, 2010, Penn South brought in Dr. Catherine Ayers, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and a leading expert on the subject, to conduct a two-day symposium on cluttering and hoarding, which over 100 people attended. They included Penn South staff, healthcare professionals and social workers associated with the Penn South Program for Seniors, as well as many cooperators who suffer from the disorder.
“It was wonderful because a few people got up and admitted they had a problem and got assurance from us and the doctor that we would give them all the help and support they needed to resolve the situation, so we could do the necessary work,” stated Keany. “On a long-term basis they will work with our senior center [on Penn South’s grounds] to get whatever counseling is necessary. One person is even going to Hoarders Anonymous,” he said.
A model of middle-income cooperative housing (subsidized by the city and state since 1962), Penn South has evolved into a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC), where a large concentration of older people have “aged in place.” While hoarding is not confined to the elderly, it may intensify over the years, explained Goldstein. “As we are dealing with it, we are learning more about it,” she said.
According to the 2008 newsletter, in cases where the individual does not want to accept assistance, Adult Protective Services may be called in to clean an apartment with the authorization of a judge. “In extreme cases . . . Management is compelled to begin legal proceedings [indicating that they are in violation of their lease.] However, that is always a last resort.”
The process begins with an administrative hearing at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. If HPD finds in Penn South’s behalf, the shareholder has to allow management to get into the apartment. Between 10 and 15 legal actions have been taken to HPD. “It’s a hearing, not an eviction,” emphasized Keany. “We are not in the business of eviction, and I don’t want to be portrayed as that is something we are trying to do. What we are trying to do is get these shareholders to allow us to get in to do the necessary capital improvement,” he said.
Goldstein indicated they are in the process of preparing a memo to go to all Penn South cooperators announcing the formation of a Penn South De-Cluttering Task Force — which will include a specially hired social worker with expertise in hoarding issues. In addition, they plan to initiate a hoarder’s support group and consult with Hudson Guild, which already has a group in place.
“We approach this as we do many things at Penn South,” asserted Keany. “We went in the most progressive way possible. We go to great lengths to educate people.”
